🥃 Pomace brandy

If a bottle on the shelf says grappa, marc, orujo or tsipouro, it belongs to one family: pomace brandy, a spirit distilled from grape pomace, the skins, seeds and stalks left after the juice is pressed. In the EU it is category 6 of Regulation 2019/787: only fermented pomace, every distillation below 86 % vol., and the first one carried out with the pomace itself. It is sold at no less than 37.5 % vol.

The law names the category in every language: grape marc spirit in English, eau-de-vie de marc de raisin or marc in French, acquavite di vinaccia in Italian, aguardiente de orujo or orujo in Spanish, aguardente bagaceira in Portuguese, Tresterbrand in German. As of October 2026 the EU register holds 31 geographical indications in this category: 10 each in Italy (grappa) and France (marc), 5 in Greece (tsipouro and tsikoudia), 3 in Portugal and one each in Spain (Orujo de Galicia), Cyprus (zivania) and Hungary (törkölypálinka).

The pomace is fermented and distilled with steam or after water is added. Up to 25 kg of lees may be added per 100 kg of pomace, but alcohol from the lees may not exceed 35 % of the total. Adding other alcohol or flavouring is banned, although traditional methods are allowed; colour may be adjusted only with caramel, and sugar is capped at 20 g per litre.

What sets it apart from brandy and wine spirit is the raw material: those are distilled from wine, not from the solids left after pressing. That is why the Bulgarian grape rakias with EU GIs count as wine spirits (category 4), even though Balkan rakia is also made from pomace. Georgian chacha is a drink of the same family.

Why it matters to you. A name with a place (grappa, Marc de Bourgogne, Orujo de Galicia, tsipouro) may replace the category name on the label and stands for the rules of that region's technical file. "From pomace" does not mean "light": the strength is at least 37.5 % vol. According to the WHO, there is no safe level of alcohol.